


Theft Effect

by AnotherShotofBourbon



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Bank Robber AU, F/F, everyone is probably going to be human, single planet au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-07-02
Packaged: 2018-03-30 09:48:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3932272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherShotofBourbon/pseuds/AnotherShotofBourbon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a job goes horribly wrong P.D. "Payday" Shepard is accused of several things she didn't do (and a few that she did). In order to get to the man who killed her friend and tried to kill her, Shepard is going to have to assemble a new crew to take on Saren "The Spectre" Arterius. It is the Infiltrator versus the Spectre in a race to find the hidden Prothean vault filled with the mysterious and deadly Reaper weapons. The only question is who will get there first and what will happen to the person who gets there second?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. -Job One: Stealing Eden

**Author's Note:**

> Starring:  
> P.D. "Payday" Shepard as the Infiltrator  
> "Captain" David Anderson as the Planner  
> Jeff "Joker" Moreau as the Driver  
> Kaidan Alenko as the Jack of All Trades  
> Urdnot Wrex as the Muscle  
> Tali'Zorah nar Rayya as the Hacker  
> Liara T'Soni as the Prothean Expert  
> with Ashley Williams and Garrus Vakarian as the Cops  
> and Saren "the Spectre" Arterius as the Rival

**Casing**

Anderson walked down the dusty hallway, and knocked at the door to the penthouse suite.

“Shepard,” he called, “we have a job.”

The strawberry blonde stuck her head out the door. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

He briefly spied the “Fuck Akuze” tattoo peeking out from the strap of her tank top. The black ink was written over the massive acid burn that covered the all of her left shoulder and parts of her arm.

“Just be ready in five minutes,” he called as he turned back towards the elevator, hitting the button for the lobby.

Twenty minutes later Shepard joined the others in the rundown lobby of the once glamorous Normandy Hotel.

She’d already changed into her all black bank-robbing attire, as had Kaidan Alenko and Richard Jenkins. The only one not dressed head to toe in black was Joker. The getaway driver was dressed in his usual jeans and obscure band t-shirt.

“Took you long enough,” the bearded driver quipped.

Shepard said nothing as she took a seat. Anderson stood in front of the assembled group and cleared his throat.

“We’ve got a job, it has to be done tonight,” he said.

“That’s not a lot of time,” Shepard pointed out.

“Hopefully that will work for us,” Anderson continued. “In the suburb of Eden Prime, a wealthy landowner just uncovered a Prothean artefact of some sort.”

“Prothean?” Kaidan chimed in. “I thought they all vanished thousands of years ago.”

“They did,” Anderson said. “At some point almost fifty thousand years ago the Prothean mysteriously vanished off the continent, but they left all their stuff behind. Stuff, that if recovered intact, can fetch a hefty price on the blackmarket. Or any other market.”

“Prothean means money, but that also mean enhanced security,” Shepard said. “We don’t have the time to properly case the estate, much less make a plan to steal the thing.”

“You’re not entirely wrong. But the thing is this find happened only a few short hours ago. Word hasn’t gotten out yet about it, and the owners haven’t had time to get a complete security detail. It is only a couple of extra guards, and the usual wealthy estate security.”

Shepard smiled her puckish grin, eyes lighting up. “So that means this is a standard house robbery, but with a payday of several hundred thousand credits each.”

Anderson couldn’t help but smile. “Exactly.”

“This sounds awesome! Let’s go rob some rich people!” Jenkins yelled out.

“Calm down, Greenie,” Shepard said.

“I know I’m new, but I’m not _that_ new,” Jenkins complained.

“Just relax,” she said more forcefully. “Itchy trigger fingers get people killed. Now calm down or we’ll do this without you.”

“Ok, fine,” Jenkins muttered.

“Joker, get the car ready,” Anderson ordered. “Alenko, Jenkins, suit up.”

“Aye aye Captain,” Joker said as he slowly stood up and hobbled off to the garage.

Anderson rolled his eyes at the nickname Shepard had bestowed upon him several years ago. It just kind of stuck, and the crew never called him anything else.

Several minutes later, the crew assembled at the getaway car Joker had selected, a long black car with fake plates, darkened windows, and probably more horsepower than was reasonable. A completely unremarkable looking car that would put most racecars to shame.

Shepard was the first one ready. She had her silence pistol, and semi-automatic rifle in case things got difficult also with a silencer. To complete her ensemble she had her black mask with the large red ‘7’ painted across the face.

Kaidan followed with his machine pistol and mask with a giant red leaf painted across the front. Jenkins was just behind him with a large, incredibly dangerous looking machine gun and his Turian Councilor mask.

“Everyone ready?” asked Shepard.

“Yeah!” Jenkins cried. “Let’s do it!”

“Get in already,” Joker said as he turned the engine over and the car roared to life.

“Let’s steal a Prothean artifact.”


	2. The Heist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and the crew make it to the gated community of Eden Prime, all set to rob some rich people of the valuable Prothean Artifact they've uncovered. The only problem is someone got there before them.

It was early in the morning, almost four am. The rich, gated suburb was still asleep. With some expert driving, Joker got the team into Eden Prime undetected. Joker stopped the car, and Shepard slipped on her mask.

The other two followed suit.

She nodded and the trio exited the car, guns at the ready.

“I’ll just be here, waiting in the car,” Joker said quietly.

The crew made their way silently up to the house. It was dark, and quiet. Perhaps a bit too quiet.

Shepard signaled Kaidan and Jenkins to watch her back while she picked the lock on the side door to let them in.

“This is a little weird,” Kaidan whispered. “I’m not seeing any signs of life. No guards no nothing.”

“Good, that will make this so much easier!” Jenkins said much too loud.

“Shut up,” Shepard whispered. “We’re in.”

They crept into the massive mansion, weapons at the ready. Shepard was took point, and moved forward slowly.

The second they entered the house she knew something was wrong. The entire place looked like a hurricane had blown through the house. Furniture was upturned, papers, and objects were scattered on the floors.

“Stay frosty,” she said to the team behind her. Then she spoke into the small radio connected to Joker and Anderson, “Something’s up. No one is here. The place looks ransacked.”

“What do you want to do Shepard?” Anderson asked.

She crept forward, farther into the house. “I want to keep looking. It doesn’t look like anything’s been taken so we might be in luck. Who knows, maybe some stuck up rich person is doing their version of spring cleaning. Joker, keep the car running. You two, keep your eyes open.”

With her silenced rifle held steady, she moved forward.

After a few tossed rooms, one even had a small fire burning in a corner, Shepard started to hear skittering. Something like mechanical crickets, metal grinding on metal, making noise.

With a quick hand motion to make Kaidan and Jenkins take cover, Shepard pushed herself against the wall.

A light moved across the room in front of the crew.

Shepard took a deep breath and waited. Perhaps it was just a guard, or perhaps it was whoever it was that ransacked the mansion.

After a few tense seconds, the source of the light came into view.

It wasn’t a guard. It wasn’t even human.

A robot, with a flashlight head, came into view.

“Geth,” Shepard whispered.

But the robot heard her and turned its assault rifle on Shepard, who didn’t hesitate. She fired several rounds through the metal casing that formed the geth’s chest, dropping it to the floor.

The silencer made soft cracks out of the gunshots.

“Anderson, we’ve got geth,” Shepard said.

“I don’t like this,” Anderson responded immediately. “Geth haven’t been on this side of the Perseus Ocean in centuries. If they’re here now, it can’t be for anything good.”

“Hold on,” Shepard whispered. “Someone’s coming, hit the ground.”

The trio ducked undercover as someone entered the room.

A thin, grey skinned man entered the room. “Plant the bombs, leave nothing standing.” The voice was familiar to Shepard, but she couldn’t think of where she’d heard it before.

“He’s with the geth,” Jenkins whispered unnecessarily loudly. Shepard had already figured that out, and Jenkins’ irrelevant contribution only served to have them potentially spotted.

From her vantage point around a corner, Shepard could see the thin man’s unnaturally bright blue eyes scanning the area. Those eyes glowed in the darkness. He was definitely looking right at where Jenkins was hiding.

Shepard prayed to a nameless god of thieves that Jenkins wouldn’t do anything stupid, but her half-hearted prayers went unanswered.

Then from somewhere Shepard couldn’t see came a new voice.

“Saren? What are you doing here?” came the voice.

The glowing eyed man turned around, gun in his hand. “Nihlus,” he said in that voice that Shepard now recognized.

“What are the geth doing here? Things are getting out of hand.”

“You shouldn’t have come here,” Saren said.

A loud shot rang out as Saren fired. A heavy thump followed the echoing shot, as the one named Nihlus hit the ground. Two more shots rang out as Saren finished the job.

“Whoa!” Jenkins cried, as he stood up.

The man named Saren whipped around. Jenkins, trying to play the hero, leveled his gun at the murder, but the other man was much too fast. Three loud shots erupted from the gun as the bullets ripped through Jenkins.

Before Shepard or Kaidan could react, something bright and loud exploded at the other end of the room.

When the pair got their hearing and vision back, Jenkins was dead on the floor and the man was gone.

“Ripped right through his armor,” Kaidan said as he checked Jenkins’ pulse. Nihlus, or whatever was left of him, was beyond recognition or saving.

Shepard was trying hard to keep her rage under check.

“Anderson, I need a route from where I am to the main study,” she snapped. “This is a rich person’s house, they store stuff in their safe. Fastest route.”

“One second.”

“Hurry,” she said before turning to Kaidan. “You either keep up with me or you go wait at the car.”

“What about Jenkins?”

Shepard ground her teeth. “We can’t do anything for him now, if we get out of here in one piece we can do something, but there’s nothing to do now.”

The second she finished speaking another flashlight-headed geth appeared in the hallway. Another series of whip crack gunshots sounded as Shepard blew off the machine’s head.

“Anderson!”

“Take your next right, out the second window, climb up the ledge to the second story.”

“Now or never,” Shepard said as she started forward.

Kaidan looked over the dead body one last time. Shepard was right, there was no time to mourn. If they left now they might be able to catch the guy that killed Jenkins. Maybe.

Shepard started running, pausing only to take the turn that Anderson directed her towards and barely stopped as she killed another geth before jumping out the window.

He was having trouble keeping up, by the time he climbed out the window, Shepard was already three-quarters of the way up the scaffolding, erected to fix the mansion’s siding.

Once on the second floor, Anderson fed them more instructions that Shepard followed at a breakneck pace.

The geth had grown more numerous on the second floor, but the woman barely seemed to even notice them. She just shot out their flashlight heads the second they’d appear, and if Kaidan was fast enough he might be able to get a couple of shots off at one before Shepard’s rapid and accurate firing took it down.

After several more minutes of running and occasionally stopping to shoot something, they reached the area of the mansion that would be the owner’s main study. A large, elegant looking metal vault stood open at the very back of the room.

Shepard swore, their target had already come and gone.

“Cover the door,” Shepard muttered.

With any luck there would be something of value left in the room. However, it looked like most of the room had been torn apart.

Kaidan nervously kept one eye on the seemingly empty hallway and one eye on Shepard as she crossed the massive study.

There was something green, something glowing over by the opened safe. Shepard approached it cautiously. With any luck at all it would be the beacon, at the very least they could take it and sell it for a hefty fee. This whole operation wouldn’t be a complete loss.

With a careful, steady hand Shepard touched the football sized glowing box and instantly regretted it.

The instant her hand connected with the Prothean beacon her entire body froze. Her mind burned with a searing headache that started just behind her eyes. In her mind she saw a series of images, maps, locations, items she didn’t understand. It felt like it went on forever, but in reality it lasted for only a few seconds.

“Shepard!” Kaidan called again. “Hey! Payday!”

At the sound of her nickname, she looked up at the man guarding the door.

“What?”

“We’ve got to go!”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said as she tried to shake herself out of her daze.

From beneath his mask, Kaidan’s face was showing deep concern. Shepard was acting strange.

“Start heading to Joker, I’m right behind you,” she ordered, voice suddenly full of the command that she had before. She pocketed the beacon and took one last look around the room.

Kaidan was already down the hall, assuming that Shepard was right behind him. Instead she was distracted by the tiny, blinking red light near the door.

She took a few steps towards it and the door when she realized it was a bomb.

“Bomb! Run!” she yelled to Kaidan.

There was nowhere for her to go to, however. So she took the only available route: the second story window.

She was breaking through the glass a half second after the bomb was triggered.

Kaidan was sprinting through the house now, on his way to the getaway car. Explosions burned through the house at varying points. Within a few seconds the entire building was either collapsing rubble or on fire.

The man with the maple leaf mask sprinted through a burning hole near the front of the house and tore across the once perfectly manicured lawn to the waiting getaway car. Joker had the door open and waiting. The engine idled quietly as they waited for Shepard.

Sirens were starting to fill the once quiet night air.

“Fuck,” Shepard’s whispered voice came over the radio.

“What? What is it?” Joker asked. “Where are you?”

“I must have gotten turned around,” she said, quietly, almost calmly. “I’m on the east side of the grounds.”

“We’ll come get you,” Kaidan said, closing the door so Joker could drive away.

“No, you need to get out of here now. I’m about to be arrested,” she said as she tore off her mask, both guns, her bulletproof vest, and the artifact. “You two get out of here now. Get me later. Fuck, the artifact didn’t survive the explosion.” It was just a hunk of melted circuitry and twisted metal. She threw the evidence into the fires consuming the house, letting the flames destroy it.

“We’re not going to leave you here,” Joker said.

“Just go,” Shepard ordered. “I’ll try to get out of here, but I don’t have the best of luck when it comes to these things. Better they just get me, then all of us. Go. Now. Oh hello officer. Funny, I think I’m lost.”

“Damn it!” Joker swore as the radio feed was severed. He opened the throttle and the car sped off into the night, leaving one member dead in the burning house and another in police custody.

**End chapter one**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can't tell already I had this concept back when I was playing lots of Payday 2. This is going to be a slow story, but if you have any side quests from the first game you really want me to tackle you should let me know sooner rather than later. (I already know that I will be doing the whole Hades' Dogs questline and probably the Luna VI mission)


	3. -Good Cop, Bad Cop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard is in prison for the events in the Eden Prime Subdivision. The lead detective Garrus Vakarian is interrogating her with his hot-head new partner, Ashley Williams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I might be posting this without seriously editing it. Whoops. Don't care.  
> Still taking suggestions on prefered ME1 sidequests to tackle, but it isn't like I expect any responses or anything.

**The Interrogation**

"You're certainly in a lot of trouble," the dark grey skinned Turian said after entering the over-bright room where Shepard found herself cuffed to the table. He opened the file he brought with him and flipped through for a bit. "You have your standard breaking and entering, destruction of property, theft, arson, trespassing, and a double murder."

His voice was deep, with the flat accent most Turians have.

"It looks impressive to you, but for me it is just Tuesday."

"So you admit it?" asked the dark haired severe looking woman with the pale skin.

"No, Wednesday’s when I do the things I've been accused of."

"You're saying you had nothing to do with this?"

"Like I told the officer that arrested me, I was simply lost," Shepard said.

"Well, Miss Pamela Shepard, this doesn't seem to be the first time you've been in this situation," the Turian continued as his long, thin fingers flipped through her file. "You're rap sheet is not as long as I would have thought someone who spent six months in Akuze would warrant."

Shepard scowled.

"In fact the records we have for you are surprisingly light, but they look like a library when compared to the records we have from your time on the Sol continent."

"You've already got me at a disadvantage. You've got my name and file, and I don't even have your names," she said as she strained against the cuffs.

"I'm Garrus Vakarian and this is my partner Ashley Williams."

"Pleasure," she responded with dripping sarcasm. "Why don't you tell me what you plan on getting out of this meeting."

"We know you were there," Ashley said.

"Gold star for Sherlock Junior here," Shepard attempted a golf clap with her handcuffed hands. "Did she just got on the job, or what? That's where I was arrested. I was just out for a walk, I heard some explosions, went to see if I could lend any assistance then I was arrested."

Ashley glared at her.

"That's your story?" Garrus asked.

"And I'm sticking to it. So how about this: you tell me how you think I went about breaking into a house, blowing it up, and getting myself arrested."

"It looks like somehow you found out that Eden Prime had a Prothean artifact, you broke in with your team when you encountered a C-Sec operative named Nihlus. He tried to arrest you but the potential price for an intact beacon was too much, so you traded gunfire. He killed one of your team and you killed him." As Garrus was speaking Ashley was putting pictures of the deceased in front of Shepard. Nihlus was cold and professional looking, but Jenkins' mug shot showed him as youthful and green as ever. "Then to cover your tracks you blew the house, but you didn't get away fast enough."

"Interesting theory," Shepard shrugged. "Has a couple of holes in it. Like how would a simple orphan Sol girl like myself find out about a super secret Prothean artifact?"

“You’re a criminal, you have ways,” Ashley said. “And we all know what you did to get yourself thrown into Akuze. You butchered your entire team, and then some. A hundred and Sixty million dollars in federal money mysteriously goes missing. You do six months for both crimes and now hold the title as the only person to ever walk out of Akuze alive.”

Shepard had been rubbing her wrists uncomfortably, and when Ashley leaned in real close to say, "You're nothing but a backstabbing piece of shit then and you haven't changed one bit." Shepard slapped the now open handcuffs onto Ashley's wrists before she kicked out the cop's legs so she fell to the floor, hard.

Shepard slammed Ashley's head into the table before Garrus could pull her off.

"You know nothing," Shepard snapped.

Garrus shoved her hard against the wall. Shepard put her hands up to surrender, while Ashley violently pulled against the chains. The Turian unlocked the cuffs and dragged Ashley out of the room by her collar.

"Let me in there! I'm going to break her smug little face!" Ashley yelled.

Garrus has pulled her into the observation room beyond the one way mirror.

"I don't give a shit who you know to get you appointed to my case, and make no mistake this is my case. You ever act like that to any of my suspects again and I'll have you appointed to janitorial duties in the drunk tank from now till you retire. Understand me?"

Ashley nodded tersely. "Got it, I'm sorry. Can we go back in there  now?"

Shepard had stepped up to the mirror and was seemingly picking her teeth, but the motions were greatly exaggerated and she used her middle finger.

Garrus shook his head. "No, you're not going anywhere near her. Stay here."

Ashley snarled as Garrus left her behind and re-entered the interrogation cell.

"Are you going to handcuff me to the table again?" She asked.

"You already proved that wouldn't do a lot of good, and as an apology for my partner, no."

"What a relief. So what did you want to talk about?"

"This robbery."

"Oh yeah, you're little theory. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me."

"Why not?"

"Strictly hypothetically, since I am a rehabilitated ex-con I would never do what you accused me of, where would I have heard about this artifact mere hours after its recovery?"

"I'm sure you have your ways."

"Ok, ok,” she muttered waving her hand dismissively, “what would I have to gain by killing Nihlus here? If I was a thief, wouldn't murder really hurt my chances of selling the artifact since it instantly becomes evidence? Also, hypothetically wouldn't a thief use a silencer to not alert the authorities such as yourself?"

"True, true," Garrus said as he rubbed his chin in thought. The three gunshots were what caused the neighbors to call the police in the first place.

"You want the real truth?" Shepard asked suddenly serious.

Garrus' eyes narrowed. He nodded, careful never taking his eyes off of the strawberry blonde before him.

"I want off the record, completely. No recordings, no nothing. You can take notes only after we are done speaking, and I'll deny everything. Off. The. Record."

"Fine," he pushed a few buttons on his wrist computer. The mirror suddenly became opaque. "There."

But Shepard only frowned. She pulled the chair over the hanging, naked light and pulled out the fiber optic cable that hid in the bulb’s wiring before ripping off the camera.

"You got me," Garrus said. "Can we talk now?"

Shepard frowned again. But she sat down and moved as close to Garrus as she could. Her hands on the bare metal table started tapping loudly out of rhythm as she leaned in to whisper.

"I know there are more bugs, so I'll make this quick. One, you didn't find the artifact on me, your team is probably just now digging it out of the rubble. What would the point be of trying to steal it but not stealing it? Two, the ballistics from both bodies will not match any of the weapons found at the scene, any of which could be mine since I had nowhere to hide them and both bodies were killed with the same gun. What would I possibly have to gain by killing both people, but not the other members of my team? Three, your people probably already found the geth corpses. Where would I find geth to assist me in a routine robbery, even for something that valuable? Four, your culprit killed your Nihlus and a member of my crew; I want him just as badly as you do. He's a Turian by the name of Saren."

It was Garrus’s turn to frown. "Where'd you get that name?"

"We've been something of business rivals for a few years now," Shepard said as she continued to make noise with her hands to drown out her whispers.

"How do I know you're not just blaming Saren because he's an easy scapegoat?"

"Do you honestly think I'd name a powerful The Spectre as a murderer for kicks? He pulls a lot of weight down here."

"What do you mean?”

Shepard just raised an eyebrow and stopped tapping her hands.

"You go anywhere with that and I'll deny every single word," Shepard said. Garrus nodded, he was quietly mulling over everything he just heard. "Now, if we are done here, I'd really appreciate it if you sent in my state appointed lawyer."


	4. Police Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus is not convinced that Shepard is responsible for everything. Ashley's not so sure.

Garrus nodded and left the room. He was immediately set upon by Ashley Williams.

“What the hell was that?” she demanded.

“She didn’t do it,” Garrus remarked.

“Bullshit,” Ashley swore. “We arrested her at the scene.”

“That’s circumstantial at best,” Garrus continued. “Trespassing, if that.”

“You can’t be serious.”

Garrus turned to Ashley and asked, “Have you ever heard of this Nihlus guy?”

“No, but I just started.”

“I’ve been here for years. I might not have met ever Turian in C-Sec, but I know them by name. And I’ve never heard of this Nihlus guy,” Garrus mused as he walked the hallways of Citadel Security.

“What does that prove?” Ashley asked. “It changes nothing.”

“That’s not true,” Garrus stopped walking. “It changes very little, but it changes enough to point to not everything adding up.”

“Officer,” the desk sergeant called Garrus over to the big desk in the middle of the district offices.

“One moment, sir,” Garrus called. He grabbed a passing junior detective, “Get a court appointed lawyer for the suspect in interrogation room four. She requested council.”

Once that was completed, Garrus and Ashley walked up to the desk sergeant. He handed a file to the lead detective.

“The lab guys have finished with the rubble. Pulled some interesting things out.”

“Like what?” Ashley asked.

But the sergeant just waited, he wanted to see the look on their faces when they read the report.

“What the fuck,” Garrus said in disbelief as Ashley snatched the file from his hands. “Geth? Seriously? Geth?”

“Oh, keep reading,” the sergeant encouraged.

“They found the Prothean beacon,” Ashley read. “Completely destroyed. Not even worth using as a paperweight.”

“Williams,” Garrus said with a sigh, “go get us some coffee.”

“Get it yourself.”

He took a second to give her a look that said, “I haven’t forgot what you did ten minutes ago.”

When the junior detective returned with two mugs of the station’s actually pretty ok coffee, Garrus took the cup and motioned for her to sit.

After taking a sip of the black, steaming liquid, he said, “What is the story about Shepard then?”

“It actually made the news. The theft of a hundred and sixty million dollars from a federal bank, The Continental, the largest Sol bank a couple of years ago. The crew was legendary. They counted seven people, they stormed the bank in the middle of the day. Forty five minutes, thirty of which was under direct police assault. They put dozens of cops in the hospital. Stole almost two hundred million dollars in cash out of the biggest vault this side of the Widow Bay. They killed no one, no bodies. Then a couple of days later six of the seven crew members are found dead, a couple of stacks of blood stained money found around them. The only surviving member is implicated in their deaths, Pamela Shepard is sentenced to the Akuze Island Prison. Six months later she walks out. The money is never recovered.”

“Ok, ok, let’s assume for a second that the Shepard we have in custody is the same Shepard that is this semi-fictional badass who may or may not have killed a couple dozen people a couple years ago before moving all the way out here. Let’s assume that she knew about the beacon and went to steal it. All of that stuff that we can’t prove, but let’s just assume that it is the truth,” Garrus said.

“Alright.”

“You want to steal this incredibly valuable piece of Prothean tech, you’re even willing to burn down the entire building to cover your theft, right? So why do you push the button on the explosives so early? Why risk losing everything by triggering the cover-up so soon?”

“Maybe it was a timer, and she misjudged it.”

“If you were a super-badass master thief like you seem to suggest that she is, would you have made a mistake like that?”

Ashley sighed, “No.”

“Exactly. And another thing, why would you bring the geth? How would you bring the geth?”

She said nothing.

Garrus sighed loudly. “None of this is adding up.”

“I still think she’s guilty.”

The Turian shook his head, and pushed his silvering hair back out of his eyes. “Look at this.”

He spun Shepard’s file around so Ashley could look at the mug shot.

Shepard’s hair was messy and unwashed from the twenty hours in the cell. She still had the confident half smile that said she might be locked up but she still held all the cards.

“What? She’s a smug bastard.”

“Look down,” Garrus instructed.

Below the mug shot were photographs of Shepard’s tattoos.

Ashley's eyes moved over the numerous scars all over her body, the large gnarly burn that encompassed Shepard's left shoulder, and looked at the numerous tattoos. The "Fuck Akuze" one was immediately noticeable. As was the spiderweb on her right elbow. On Shepard's left bicep there was a pair of broken lines, one red the other black, but whatever was above them had been destroyed by the burn. What kept Ashley's gaze was the numerous photos of the tattoo that completely covered the left side of Shepard's back. From her left shoulder down to the top of her hip was a list of words down the middle of her back.

"What are those? Names of people she killed?" Ashley asked.

"I doubt it," Garrus said. "They've all aged at the same rate, they all look about the same age. Also there are 18 names."

Ashley scoffed, "Are you thinking that this is a list of the people Shepard worked with? The one’s that died?"

"It would fit, wouldn't it?"

"No."

Garrus sighed, "You have so much to learn. Look at how she reacted to your ill tempered insinuation that she killed everyone at the Continental, look at how prominent that 'Fuck Akuze' tattoo is.

"Maybe. But what does this have to do with our case now?"

Garrus leaned back and sighed. "Maybe nothing. But if it proves that Shepard is this legendary thief then she wouldn't have made so many mistakes at Eden Prime. If she didn't do it then maybe she was telling the truth. If she's telling the truth... Then..." He trailed off.

"What was she telling the truth about?"

"If she was telling the truth, then our primary suspect is someone very influential, very powerful, and about as dangerous as two Shepard's."

"Who's that?"

"Saren, the Spectre."

 


	5. Background Checks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus and Ashley try to figure out exactly what the deal is with Payday Shepard and what she did to get sent to Akuze Island Prison.

Garrus had tasked Ashley with finding out the reasons behind Shepard’s early parole from Akuze. His task, on the surface was easier to accomplish, was to find out exactly what happened at The Continental Bank.

Both of their tasks wound up being more difficult than it should have been.

Ashley went to the Sol Embassies in the Citadel, a massive skyscraper in the center of the city. She managed to wrangle a short meeting with Ambassador Udina, the man in charge of everything Sol related in the foreign city.

The busy politician only agreed to see the cop when she said that it was about putting the person responsible for the Eden Prime attack behind bars for good.

“Officer, please, sit down,” Udina said without getting up from his desk as Ashley walked in.

“Detective,” Ashley corrected as she sat down.

“My mistake,” Udina said in that smooth politician/used car salesman voice. “You said you’d like to meet with me about the Eden Prime attack. What could I possibly do to assist your investigation. I thought you already had your suspect in custody.”

“We do,” Ashley admitted. “But we are having some difficulties that you might help us with.”

“What can I do?”

“The evidence against our suspect is…” she paused, looking for the right word, “thin.”

“You mean circumstantial.”

“No. It is just on its own it doesn’t mean much. Our suspect has an early parole from a prison that no one walks out of. If you could give us access to her records you could help us into proving that she’s a dangerous person who would attack the nice people in Eden Prime.”

“Of course, of course,” Udina said. “Eden Prime was one of the first major communities on this continent. I want to see the perpetrator brought to justice as soon as possible.”

“Good,” Ashley said. “So if you can get me the discharge papers for Pamela D. Shepard.”

Udina stopped. “What was that name again?”

“Pamela D. Shepard. I’m not entirely sure what the ‘D’ stands for, but I’m sure I could get it for you if you need it.”

“No, no that won’t be necessary,” Udina said with a sigh. “I’m afraid I can’t help you Detective.”

“Why the hell not?” Ashley asked, unable to keep her anger in check, especially when Udina was promising help not a minute ago.

“I know who you are investigating. She has… a complicated history with this office. I can’t give you her discharge papers, I’m sorry.”

Ashley glared at Udina for a moment and then stood up, pushing her chair back violently so that it clattered to the ground.

“I’m sorry, I really am. But there are certain aspects of the government you can’t simply throw to the wolves. I’d help if I could, but I can’t,” Udina said, trying to placate the detective. “I’m sorry.”

She said nothing, just left the room in a huff.

“How’s it going?” Garrus asked her over the phone, when Ashley called to report her findings.

“Talking to a politician is like talking to a smug brick wall,” Ashley complained. “I got nothing out of Udina. How are you doing?”

The Turian sighed into the phone. “I just got my official ‘we have no records of this operation or person or group’ letter from your Alliance.”

“That well?”

“I’m going to call up a contact of mine at the news to see if I can get some press footage of the Continental.”

“Good luck.”

They hung up at the same time.

Garrus, meanwhile, had exhausted all the extra-net news articles about the Continental incident. There wasn’t much to be see, besides what he already learned from Ashley earlier. Nothing besides the massive injury reports, wild speculations, and hundreds of photographs of massive bank and innumerable bullet casings by whatever happened there.

It was all but completely useless.

The thieves had worn masks, all black with a red number painted on them. 1-7. Seven robbers, six bodies, one prisoner, no money. End of story.

Garrus had no choice but to call his contact in the media. The police and the media had a delicate relationship; sometimes symbiotic, sometimes antagonistic, always charged. He pushed the necessary buttons on his phone.

“Emily Wong,” came a chipper voice on the other end almost immediately.

She was an old contact of Garrus’. Occasionally he’d give her tips on cases he worked on, other times she’d give him information. Once or twice they’ve argued over the media’s portrayal of cases or the police’s silence on somethings. A couple of times they’ve even made up.

“It’s Garrus Vakarian,” he said awkwardly.

He could almost hear the smile in her voice. “My favorite Turian. How’s the business? I heard you pulled the Eden Prime explosion. Care to share?”

He coughed nervously. “You know I can’t tell you anything.”

“Then what did you call me for? Did you finally call me to take me out?” she asked coyly.

Another nervous cough. “Not, really. I need a favor. I need some old information.”

Emily Wong’s voice dropped a bit as her smile faded, “Garrus Vakarian all business and no play.” There was a long paused. “What do you need?”

“Do you remember an event from seven years ago, a robbery at the Bank Continental?” he asked.

“Maybe? What’s in it for me? Can you tell me what happened at Eden Prime? I heard you have a suspect in custody?” Emily asked, constantly digging for information.

“Come on, you know I can’t tell you that,” Garrus said. He emitted another long sigh; conversations with Emily Wong tended to involve lots of sighs. “I’ll buy you dinner. Reporters still eat, right?”

“Now you’re talking my language,” she said, her voice rising again in pleasure.

“How about Mara’s?”

“If you can get us a reservation for tonight, I’ll get you everything I possibly can. But you know how long the wait-list is.”

“The chef owes me a favor,” Garrus said, unable to resist trying to important.

“You get us a table for eight and I’ll have you swimming in information,” Emily Wong said. “I look forward to seeing you there.”

With that the reporter hung up and again, Garrus sighed. He made one more phone call and called in a very large favor he was owed with the head chef of the fancy restaurant.

Several hours later, Detective Garrus Vakarian found himself sitting at the worst table in one of the fancier restaurants in town.

Emily Wong arrived fashionably late, only a few minutes, and sat down across the ill-dressed Turian.

“Garrus, you always know how to dress for the occasion,” she teased. “I’m a little surprised you delivered. Even if the table is… less than stellar.”

Indeed the table was not located in a good location. It was the unlucky position of being closest to the server station, where the servers would collect food and drinks, and the bathroom which had a steady stream of customers going to and from.

“I never promised anything about the location of the table,” Garrus said as he awkwardly studied the menu.

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” Wong smiled.

Garrus, not for the first time, wondered what he had gotten himself into.

Emily refused to talk business until after they’d at least ordered their food. When that was completed Garrus asked, “So?”

“I got you everything you could possibly need, without an actual action report. That would require Top Secret clearance.”

“What would that cost me?” he asked sarcastically.

“Seven dinners at nothing less than four star restaurants, with decent tables, five dances, two movie dates, and one promise of information on any case of my choosing,” she said instantly.

“Could you do that?”

Emily just smiled. “Would you pay that?”

“I… uh…” Garrus sputtered.

“It’s ok,” Emily smiled again. She produced a large file from her bag. “I don’t have any illusions about our relationship.”

She placed a hand on Garrus’ own and he dropped his gaze.

“Well… uh…”

“Oh shut up and take the file you’re so desperate for,” Wong commented.

Eager to do something with his hands, Garrus grabbed the Continental file.

“So I’m going to assume Shepard is your prime suspect,” she said. “Oh don’t give me that look. It’s obvious. Anyone else involved is either dead or hiding behind a wall of government secrets that you’d need to be an Admiral to get behind.”

“You read it all?”

“Of course.”

“Can you give me the short version?”

Emily took a sip of her wine. “Something went bad. What? Even I don’t know. But I don’t think that it was Shepard selling out her people. Something else happened here, and quite frankly I don’t think the Alliance has any right idea. No one knows what really happened but Shepard. The real question is what about the money. I’m not concerned with the fact that its gone, but whose was it. The thing about is that no one really knows who’s hundred and sixty million it was. No one claimed it, no one pressed charges, or filled insurance claims. It was just there, and then it was stolen, and then it was gone.”

“What about Shepard, what’s your read on her?”

“She’s not your suspect.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Have you even looked at what her group was considered responsible for?”

“What group?”

“The N7’s,” Emily said with an exasperated sigh. She produced another file. “The N7’s were the greatest criminal enterprise to ever run. They hit so many big names. A batarian slave ring. They’ve robbed politicians, rigged elections, stole a metric ton of gold right under the nose of two entire platoons of Alliance infantry and a Rear Admiral. I mean they were a real crack team. The best one is only rumor. Apparently the N7’s robbed a mobster of his shipment of conflict diamonds that he was planning on selling for enough red sand to drown half of Citadel City. So the N7’s traded the mobsters own diamonds for the drugs he just bought. But when the mobster returned to his base he found that he’d lost everything: notes, ledgers, cash, art, anything of value, had been stolen. His only option was to store the diamonds in the most secure location possible, a bank vault. He stores the diamonds and less than six hours later the entire bank has been completely wiped. Cash, lockboxes, everything, the diamonds, everything, completely gone. Then to top it off a Susan Rizzi, one of the six murdered, collects the thousand dollar reward money for turning over evidence to implicate the mob in a series of crimes that results in organized crime being effectively crippled.”

“That’s quite a story.” Garrus flipped through the file on Shepard’s heavily censored record, the first two pages were almost completely blank save for the solid black lines redacting almost every word. The only thing that was legible on those first two pages were dates. One was Shepard’s first arrest over twenty years ago. A redacted operation of some sort against a Batarian slaver. A series of mentions of several mobsters that Shepard was arrested for stealing from.

“I should have put this together sooner,” he admitted. “But still that doesn’t mean much. So she steals from bad people, so do a whole bunch of other thieves, that doesn’t make her a saint.”

"Then you and I see very different people."

Garrus shrugged. It was true that he didn't think Shepard was guilty of most of the things she was being accused of, but that didn't make her innocent.

"But enough about work, our food is here."

Garrus and Emily had a very nice dinner. But just as he finished, he got a phone call. “Office Vakarian? We need you to report back to the station immediately.”

“What happened?” he asked.

“It seems like your suspect has take two officers hostage and will only speak with you.”

Garrus pushed his hair back again, “Sorry Emily, I’ve got to go.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I did this on accident, but now I kinda ship Garrus and Emily Wong. Damn it.


	6. Bail

Ten minutes prior to Garrus receiving the phone call, Shepard was sitting quietly in her cell at the station after talking with her court appointed attorney when two police officers appeared outside her cell.

The one in front smiled lecherously at the captive female. "Open cell 4 Dobbs, would ya? And then why don't you go take a break?"

The officer nodded, and Shepard's cell buzzed open.

"Gentlemen," Shepard said as she stood up. "What do I owe the pleasure of your presence?"

"Saren sends his regards," the front man said smugly.

Shepard's faces was completely blank, no emotion whatsoever. "Who?"

Harkin’s smug smile dropped. "Saren. The Spectre. Your rival for the beacon."

"Don't know him."

"Saren Arterius?"

"What? You really need to speak up," Shepard said loudly.

"Ugh! Saren sent us to kill you!" Harkin said loudly.

"Oh him, he killed my friend," Shepard said in a low menacing voice.

Mal, a relatively new officer, couldn't have told you what happened next. Harkin had said there was a job for him to help with and he could earn some extra money. He didn't know that they were going to kill a prisoner. But when Harkin drew his gun, Shepard reacted. The muscular strawberry blonde attacked, and before Mal or Harkin could do anything she had both their guns.

"Now, take your handcuffs and cuff yourselves," Shepard ordered.

They did as instructed. Just as they finished a voice called out, "You done in there Harkin? I know she's pretty but I've got a job to do."

Harkin made to yell out to the officer but Shepard put a foot on his throat, choking him into silence.

"First of all," Shepard stuck her head out of the cell, "I'd rather do a shot of acid to wash down a mouthful of razor blades. Second of all he's not done, because I have his gun."

Shepard waved to the officer and the instructed Mal to speak.

"Dobbs! She's got both our guns! We've been handcuffed and restrained!"

"Good, now shh," she said. "I'll let Officer Johnson here go when I get to talk to Garrus Vakarian! Anyone else will get these fine gentlemen shot!"

Ten minutes later the SWAT team was ready outside in the hallway, while Shepard was singing show tunes under her breath.

“Shepard,” Garrus called. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Garrus? Is that you?” Shepard called.

A few moments later the bulletproof vested wearing Turian stepped into the hallway in front of Shepard’s cell.

“Hi,” she smiled. “Officer Mal, you may go now.”

Mal stood up.

“Now, what do you say?” Shepard cajoled.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I’ll never do it again. Strictly the straight and narrow for me from here on out,” Mal said. “Sorry Detective Vakarian.”

And with that Officer Mal ran out of the cell and down the hall to safety.

Garrus’ mouth hung open. “What the hell was that?”

“Someone has to teach your officers some manners,” Shepard said as she put her foot back on Harkin’s throat. “This one is hopeless however.”

“Again, I say, what the hell?” Garrus said.

“I’m going to tell you what happened, you won’t believe me, I’ll let this sack of shit go, I’ll spend some time in prison, I’ll get out, and then you’ll believe me,” Shepard said.

“Anytime you want to start making sense…”

“Saren set this asshole to kill me,” Shepard said casually. She pointed one of the two guns at the gagged Harkin. “Isn’t that right?”

He nodded eagerly.

“Get the fuck out of here,” Shepard said.

Harkins stood up with difficulty and ran out of the cell.

“Look,” Shepard said as she flipped on the safety of both weapons. “No one is going to believe me, my story will be swept under the rug so they can throw more charges at me. In about forty minutes, give or take, you will get an order from the Council themselves to have this case closed as quickly as possible. Which means pinning this entire thing on me and not going after the real criminal: Saren. But one way or another, I’m walking out of here tomorrow.”

She handed Garrus the two guns, and something else.

“What’s this?” he said.

“Oops,” Shepard said with an entirely unbelievable look of shame on her face. “I accidentally stole that when you were interrogating me. It must have been recording this entire time. I hope I didn’t say anything incriminating.”

Garrus frowned.

“Seriously,” Shepard said dropping her voice. “Don’t lose that, don’t break it, don’t play it for anyone you don’t trust with your life. Saren has people everywhere and they will take any chance to bury you and me together.”

“Right,” Garrus muttered. “Well you know what happens now, right?”

“A bunch of well armed policemen burst in here to detain the obvious unarmed prisoner and proceed to beat the ever-loving shit out of her because,” Shepard explained loudly to make sure the bug would pick it up before lowering her voice in an impression of a meat headed police officer, “it looked like she had a shiv!” She lifted up her shirt to show a bare midriff. Her hands were empty, and then she spun around. After that she lifted up her pant legs to show nothing hiding in her socks. “As you can clearly see I’m completely unarmed. Aren’t I Detective?”

“Yeah, you are unarmed,” Garrus said.

“And now I’ll have evidence for when my lawyers sue your entire department for the, I’m assuming, awful beating I’m about to receive,” Shepard said with a sad, broken smile. She’s been in this exact position before.

“I would have gone with ‘severe’,” Garrus said. “For whatever reason, they like Harkin around here.”

“Fuck,” Shepard muttered as she descended to her knees and put her hands behind her head. “I swear to god, if you assholes use thresher maws or acid or anything I will fucking rip everyone’s throats out with my teeth.”

“Got it, no threshers here,” he said.

“I have your word?”

“You have my word,” Garrus assured her. He turned to the assembled SWAT team. “The prisoner is unarmed and is surrendering! Go easy on her!”

The SWAT team rushed into the unarmed prisoner’s cell.

“Stop! Don’t do that!” Garrus yelled as he tried to pull the overeager meatheads off of Shepard.

To her credit, Shepard put up an incredible fight, especially fighting from a surrendering position. She managed to put three cops in the hospital for a few hours before they sent her in the ambulance that took several minutes too long to arrive.

A half hour later once everyone was carted off to the hospital, Garrus Vakarian got a phone call.

“Detective Vakarian?” came a cool, smooth voice.

“Speaking,” Garrus responded. The number was blocked.

“Please hold for the Citadel City Council.”

“Oh fuck,” Garrus said.

“What?” Ashley asked.

“Council,” Garrus mouthed.

“Fuck!” Ashley swore.

In a moment of forethought, Garrus pushed the speakerphone button and then laid it on his desk.

“Detective Vakarian,” came the smooth voice of Councilor Tevos. “We understand that you have a suspect in the Eden Prime attack in custody.”

Garrus coughed and cleared his throat. “Well not at the moment… Some… over enthusiastic SWAT team officers put her in the hospital.”

“That doesn’t matter now,” came the voice of the Salarian Councilor Valern.

“All the Council cares about it getting this Shepard behind bars permanently,” interrupted Sparatus, the councilor for the Turian people spoke up.

“Councilors,” Garrus said nervously, “I doubt Shepard did this. She didn’t kill Nihlus.”

“And your partner?” Sparatus asked.

Ashley sighed, “I’m not entirely sure either.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Valern commented. “He have a suspect in custody. All that matters is that we prosecute.”

“My fellow Councilors are right,” Tevos said. “Just do what it takes to convict Shepard of this heinous act.”

“Put the case to rest Detective,” ordered Valern.

“But…-” Ashley tried to interject.

“Just do it,” Sparatus menaced before terminating the call.

“Fuck,” Garrus, muttered, “I can’t believe it.”

“What?” Ashley said.

“Fucking Shepard called this. To a goddamn T.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Nope,” Garrus said, checking the time. “She was only off by… ten minutes.”

“I mean, I have my doubts about Shepard, but did the Council just tell us to convict her, one way or the other?” Ashley asked.

“Yes they did.”

“What are we going to do about it?”

“Jack and shit,” Garrus said.

“What about Shepard?”

“She was beaten to hell by our people. And we have a recording of her being beaten by our people on the same tape that we have those same people confessing to helping Saren.”

“So we destroy it.”

“We destroy it, we lose the first real evidence we have against Saren,” Garrus pointed out and Ashley swore.

Garrus stared at the little bug in his hand. For a moment he did nothing. Then he pushed a few buttons on his wrist mounted computer. Audio from the bug started playing. At first it was nothing decipherable from the interrogation when Shepard was deliberately making the bug useless.

He fast forwarded a bit.

“How illegal is it for the cops to tape confidential conversations between client and lawyer?” Shepard’s voice asked.

“Very,” came the deep voiced lawyer. “Why?”

“Oh, no reason,” Shepard muttered.

Ashley frowned.

“Just get me those items if you can’t get me out on bail in the next forty eight hours,” Shepard said.

“Ok, but I don’t know why you need this stuff? Make-up and whatnot,” the lawyer muttered, after some sounds of chairs moving. “The Council is going to want you to stay in prison.”

“Cliff, just let me worry about that. Get me that stuff, try to get me out on bail.”

“I’ll see what I can do, but without some leverage you’ll be in jail for a nice long while.”

Garrus fast forwarded again for a few second and stopped. A voice, not Shepard’s, spoke up.

“Ugh! Saren sent us to kill you!” yelled Harkin.

“Oh, him. He killed my friend,” said Shepard.

“Son of a bitch,” Ashley said. “She was fucking telling the truth.”

Garrus paused the record. “Ok, ok, ok. So if Saren wants to kill her while she’s in prison, then that probably means that he was there, and she interrupted him. That would mean that she was right, this entire time.”

“So now what?”

Garrus let out a long sigh. “We are going to have to try and convince the Council that she’s not our perpetrator.”

“You heard them, they want her for the job.”

“I know, I know.”

“What are we going to do?” Ashley asked. “I mean, I don’t like Shepard, not even a little. But I’m really not comfortable with sending the wrong person to prison.”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know.”

* * *

 

Two days later Shepard was released from the hospital, just some serious bruising, nothing broken, and a couple of stitches across the back of her neck.

“I’ve got some bad news,” Cliff, her court appointed lawyer said.

“You can’t get me out on bail.”

“No, I cannot. But that’s not all,” he continued. “We have a meeting in front of the Council in an hour.”

“Is this the trial? Already?”

“Some kind of pre-hearing malarky.”

“Oh this is not going to go well for me at all,” Shepard muttered. “Did you at least get what I asked for?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cliff responded as he handed her the small makeup case. “I don’t know why you want this stuff.”

“I got to look presentable to Council,” she said.

“Well hurry up, we’ve got to get going.”

“You know, you’re right, this can wait let’s go.”

After a forty minute car ride with Cliff coaching Shepard on what to say and what not to say, Shepard and Cliff arrived at the Citadel Tower, the tallest building in the entire city.

A long elevator ride later, the criminal and her lawyer walked by a pissed looking Garrus and Ashley.

“I’m going to assume that it didn’t go very well,” Shepard said.

“They basically told him that if we don’t get a conviction on you, they’ll fire him,” Ashley said with a severe frown.

“Aww, Detective Williams, are you warming to me?”

“Not likely, I just want to get the right person for the crime.”

“Good luck,” Garrus said glumly. “And I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Shepard said. “I’ll survive. I always do.”

The pair walked up to the Council chambers as the detectives went back down the elevator.

In addition to the three councilors, someone else was already there.

“Saren!” Shepard said. “Holy shit. I didn’t expect you to here. Councilors, I apologize for all of the bad things I’ve ever said about you. I didn’t realize that you were so committed to bringing the true criminal to justice.”

“This is outrageous, why am I here?” Saren asked, his deep voice rumbling. “Nihlus was a co-worker and a friend.”

“That just made it easier for you to shoot him in the face,” Shepard responded.

“Silence,” snapped the asari Councilor. The middle aged woman had short hair pinned back, and was noticeably taller than the other two.

“Councilor, with all due respect, what is this?” Cliff asked.

“We are hearing your case,” the big eyes Salarian Councilor said.

“Oh hell no,” Shepard said. “I demand a trial by jury.”

“This is not fair,” Cliff responded. “We haven’t had adequate time to prepare, we don’t even have a list of charges!”

“Well then I suggest you start reading,” Sparatus snapped. The dark skinned Turian with the solid silver hair glared at Shepard.

“This is a violation of my client's rights!” Cliff yelled.

“Councilors, this woman killed a good friend of mine, she’s put several C-Sec officers in the hospital, and held another two of them hostage!” Saren interrupted.

“Oh you mean the two cops you sent to kill me,” Shepard snapped back.

“Enough!” Tevos yelled. “We will conduct this properly!”

“Properly like record my sessions between me and my attorney?” Shepard yelled.

“What! That is privileged information!” Cliff yelled.

Saren snarled.

“We can’t send this to a jury,” Tevos said to her fellow Councilors.

“Shepard was behind this and we need this conviction now!” Sparatus responded.

“I don’t know,” Valern muttered. “We need to give C-Sec some more time.”

Sparatus growled and Tevos sighed. “We’ll adjourn until tomorrow. Mister McCormack, I suggest you get your case together.”

“You’ll go down for this Shepard,” Saren muttered as she pushed by her.

“Hey, Saren!” she called. “I like what you did to your eyes. I look forward to ripping them out of your skull.”

“I… uh… what was that?” Cliff asked. “I should go prepare. This is insane.”

“Cliff, go, prepare as much as you can. I’ll catch a ride with Detective Vakarian.”

Shepard was escorted down to the Presidium level where she found Garrus and Ashley waiting.

“I see you’re still in handcuffs,” Ashley said with distinct levels of disappointment in her voice.

“Yeah, but they postponed sentencing me for a while,” Shepard responded. “Can you give me a lift back to the station? My lawyer has to go prepare an entire legal defence in just a few hours. It kind of sucks to be him right now.”

“Yeah, yeah, get in,” Garrus said.

“Just so you guys know,” Shepard said. “They are going to pin everything I did, everything going to do, on you two. If you don’t sell me out right now, you are going down with me.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Garrus said. “I’m going to rip Saren down.”

They arrived at the station and just as Shepard was going to be escorted to her cell, she called to Garrus, “Thank you, and I’m sorry!”

“Sorry for what?”

She just smiled and winked.

Back in her cell, once she was alone, she took out the little make-up kit Cliff got for her. She went to work covering up some of her tattoos. The spiderweb on her elbow, the fleur de lis on her left forearm, and the broken parallel lines.

It took a little bit longer than she would have liked, but when her task was done, she hid the kit and called for one of the guards.

“Hey! What time is it?” she asked.

“Almost one am.”

“My lawyer’s supposed to be here soon.”

“At one am?”

“Didn’t you hear? My Council trial had been pushed back tomorrow. Cliff is supposed to be meeting me so we can go over our defense before I’m supposed to be back on trial in six hours,” Shepard said. “I know it is all super last minute and all.”

“Oh, right. Come on, give me your hands,” he said.

Once Shepard was cuffed she was escorted to the visitor room to wait. The cop had other duties to attend to so he cuffed her to the table and left.

It took her seconds to get out of the shackles. Then, using the oneway mirror, she did the makeup on her face. She didn’t have enough to make herself look totally different, but it was enough to make her look different enough.

The next step would be a change of clothes, since a bright orange prison jumpsuit would not help her break out of prison. And that would require getting out of the room and into the evidence lock-up or the C-Sec locker rooms.

The door was a breeze, but the hallways were less than empty. Shepard had to wait almost fifteen minutes before there was a break long enough for her to run down the hall and hide in a closet across the hall from the evidence lock-up.

It took another ten minutes for Shepard to get a clear enough hallway to run over to the door and spend two minutes picking the lock. Luckily she got in undetected. The lock-up was wear anything any prisoners had on them was stored. Shepard was hoping to find a change of clothes she could steal so she could walk out the front door.

After a few minutes of searching she found a black cocktail dress that belonged to a drunk and disorderly. It was roughly her size, if not exactly. The best part was it would cover her back tattoos and her “Fuck Akuze” one. But it wouldn’t hide the massive burn on her shoulder, which would likely give her away. But after digging for a little bit longer, she found a black shawl that could go with it, and use it to cover her shoulder burns.

It wasn’t perfect but it was going to have to do.

Shepard looked younger than she did without her disguise. With it, she looked like a socialite. It was by no means perfect, but it should let her slip out of C-Sec with minimal effort.

Once the coast was clear, she ducked out of the room, snuck to an area that would be acceptable to be found in, and then simply walk away.

It worked flawlessly until she reached the front doors to find Garrus there, waiting. He pushed the door open and held it for her.

“Are you going or what?” he whispered.

“They’ll fire you for this,” she muttered.

“They’re going to fire me anyway,” he muttered back darkly.

“Why help me?”

“Because you have ways of taking down Saren that I don’t,” he said. He held up a small piece of paper. “This is the name of a bounty hunter that has been targeting some of Saren’s allies. I figure you two might have something in common.”

“Thank you,” Shepard said as she took the paper.

“Now go,” Garrus ordered. “They’ll be looking for you soon. You should be scarce when that happens.”

**End Chapter 2**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I might have stolen Payday's lawyer from Veronica Mars. Not sorry.


	7. -Job Two: Chora's Den

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Payday returns to the Normandy to begin the new job: Chora's Den where they'll wait for the mercenary Krogan Urdnot Wrex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late, I was on vacation and the internet was so shitty it bugged out trying to post this yesterday.

## Casing

Kaidan was reading a paper in one of the longue chairs in the Normandy Hotel, Joker was asleep in the opposite chair with his hat over his face, and Anderson was in his room when Shepard burst through the door.

“Shit! Shepard! How’d you get out?” Kaidan said after jumping from her sudden appearance.

“We were working on getting you out,” Joker said sleepily. “Swear to god.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Shepard said. “I got myself out. So we don’t have much time. Get Anderson up and find this krogan.”

“Who’s this?” Kaidan asked as he took the paper from Shepard.

“An enemy of Saren’s,” Shepard said as she marched off towards the elevator, heels clacking menacingly on the marble floors.

“Nice dress,” called Joker.

“Isn’t it? I think I’ll keep it. I’ll need it tailored though,” Shepard said before the doors to the elevator closed. She pushed the button for the penthouse and went to get changed into more respectable crime committing clothes.

An hour later she returned to the lobby, showered and changed. Her tattoos once again standing out vividly.

Anderson was awake and ready to assist. “Its nice to have you back, Payday,” he smiled. “Now, we’ve looked up your Krogan.”

Shepard walked over to the computer and caught a look of a massive man. He was easily a foot taller than her, probably closer to a foot and a half, and looked like he was probably twice as wide. He was bald, and his dark, even skin was marred by a series of vicious scars down the right side of his face.

“He looks mean,” Shepard said. “Where can I find him?”

“We was picked up by C-Sec not to long ago for harassing a club owner named ‘Fist’,” Anderson said with a frown. “No one does decent nicknames anymore.”

“Right, Captain?” Joker smiled.

“What’s the play?” Kaidan asked.

Shepard looked at Anderson, and they had one of their silent conversations.

“Kaidan and I take turns casing the club looking for Wrex, to see if he shows up,” Shepard said. “What’s the club?”

“Chora’s Den, its a seedy bar,” Anderson said slowly.

“Strippers?” Shepard asked.

Anderson nodded.

She sighed. “Ok, I’ll take the first shift. No offense Kaidan, but you’ll fit in slightly better than a woman at a strip club during the day.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

“Get some sleep,” she said. “I’ll call you in like six hours to relieve me. Joker find a good undercover car from your vault of cars, and I’ll go put on appropriate clubwear.”

“Payday,” Anderson, “this is a seedy club, lowlife underworld types. Your black cocktail dress is just going to get you noticed.”

“Captain, you’re great and all, but I know how to dress when going undercover to case an underworld strip club,” she called as she headed back to the elevator.

“Case? I thought we were staking out? Waiting out this Wrex guy?” Kaidan said.

“If I just so happen to check security guards and cameras and find a safe and this club happens to lose a couple of grand, then hey, not my fault.”

Twenty minutes later, Shepard returned to the lobby wearing a dirty white tank top, baggy cargo pants, and combat boots. Her hair was longer now, shaggy brunette. She gave herself a scar across the nose, and it looked like she was wearing a binder to slim her figure even further.

“Interesting look,” Joker said.

“I’m gonna grab some guns, and then we need to stop by the bank before heading to the club,” Shepard said.

“Joker: errand boy,” he said.

“Hey, if you’re nice I’ll let you come inside for a bit,” Shepard baited him.

“What do you think I am?”

“Easily bribed.”

“You got me there, let’s go.”

After a quick stop at the bank for some spending money, Payday and Joker stopped at Chora’s Den. The bar was bright with neon, in the way that made the whole place look cheap and dirty all at the same time.

“Here,” Shepard said, handing Joker a bill. “Do whatever you want with this, drinks, dances, don’t care don’t want to know. Inside you don’t know me. Spend some time here, once that money’s gone head back to the Normandy, get some sleep, and bring Kaidan back here at noon. Got it?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“You don’t know me, got it?”

“Yeah, yeah I got it,” Joker said as he hobbled off towards the club. Shepard heard him mutter, “The drinks better be good, and cheap. Strippers aren’t really my thing.”

Shepard smiled and waited for a couple of minutes before walking up to the club.

“How’s it going Shepard?” Anderson asked Shepard over the little radio in her ear a couple hours later.

“Eh, the drinks are watered down, but the dancers are cute,” she muttered.

“You’re there to case the joint and keep an eye out for your Krogan.”

“Come on Captain, I was in prison for a long time, I gotta get out, live a little, wet my whistle,” she said in a horrible thick accent.

Anderson snorted over the radio and Shepard could feel him rolling his eyes. “We both know that you wouldn’t do that no matter how long you were in prison.”

“Yeah, but if Joker asks tell him I totally made it with one of the asari dancers in the bathroom.”

“Why?”

“Different people see me as different things, I’m just playing their expectations and assumptions.”

“They’re your team. You don’t have to play them for anything.”

Shepard went silent for a long moment. “I know.”

He dropped the subject. “Kaidan will be there in an hour to relieve you. So you can get some sleep.”

“I’ve got something to do first.”

“I’ve already set up the appointment with with Barry. You’re all paid up.”

“Thanks,” she muttered. One more name to get tattooed on her back, one more friend lost to the job.

Kaidan arrived and Shepard left not too much longer. It had been a long night, and the tattoo was going to take some time. Luckily Barry knew the drill. No questions, just write the name and go.

Shepard was back at the Normandy two and a half hours after her shift at Chora’s was done.

First a shower to rinse off the makeup and the dirty club smell, then cleaning the tattoo, and finally sleep.

5 hours later Shepard was awoken by Anderson knocking on her door.

"I'm up," she called. "Give me an hour to shower and put my face on."

"Sure thing. Kaidan is very eager to leave."

"I'm going, I'm going."

This time Shepard came down to the lobby looking like a hard edged biker, with super short black hair and a leather jacket and pants. A pair of sunglasses completed the look.

"Hey, I'm ready," she informed the still half asleep looking joker.

"I'm not," he mumbled. "We're doing a coffee and doughnut run and you're paying."

"It's like 9pm," she countered.

"And we thieves are creatures of the night who enjoy breakfast foods."

"Fine, fine. Let's just go already."

"You know, I never understood how you are able to completely change your entire look at the drop of a hat. If you weren't the only woman in the Normandy I'd be super confused all the time."

"I'll have to do my best Kaidan one day," Shepard remarked. "And it isn't so hard. It is only 60% looks, the other 40% is how you carry yourself. Walking, talking, sitting, standing, that stuff. But you Joker, you can be a completely new person just by shaving."

"And lose this baby? Hell no, I've been working hard on this for 6 months now."

"Just take us to the doughnuts."

20 minutes, 3 cups of coffee, and half a dozen assorted doughnuts later, Shepard walked into the bar section of chora's den. She spotted Kaidan almost immediately.

She lowered her shades and stared him down for just long enough for him to recognize her. He finished his drink, generously tipped his ill dressed waitress, and headed out the door to find Joker.

Yesterday she had done her best to memorize camera locations. Today it was spotting guards and their rotations.

However, only three hours in her target appeared.

Wrex, the, few inches shy of seven feet tall, Krogan had burst through the club’s entrance, headbutt the security guard that tried to stop him, but when three more guards appeared from locations that Shepard was able to spot with guns drawn he stopped.

“You tell Fist he has a debt that I aim to collect. One way or the other the Shadow Broker is going to get what he wants,” Wrex said with a beautifully deep voice, that resonated in the back of his throat. Shepard felt the voice in her chest and she smiled.

“Get out of here Wrex or we’ll call the cops again,” one of the bouncers threatened, but Wrex seemed like he had already accomplished what he set out to do so he turned and left.

Shepard smiled and then signaled to the bartender that she wanted to close her tab.

“Anderson, I’ve got him,” she whispered. “Joker, you still near by?”

“I can be,” he said.

“Get back here ASAP,” she said. “I’m going to go have a chat.”

Shepard stood up to leave, but her ears were accosted by the loud drunk who had been terrorizing the dancers. With a deft move she lifted his wallet out of his pocket, took the three hundred in cash and gave it to the waitress.

“He apologizes for being such a tool, it’s all yours,” Shepard said before throwing the wallet into the darkest corner of the club.

The waitress smiled and said to the drunk, “Time to pay your tab.”

Shepard smirked as he looked for his wallet and she left the club.

Outside the Krogan was still there, getting on an intimidating looking motorcycle when Shepard called out to him.

“You Urdnot Wrex?”

“Who’s asking?” he responded in that voice that carried all the way across the parking lot. Shepard loved his voice and decided that if anyone ever made a documentary on her life she wanted him to narrate it.

“Name’s Shepard,” she said, taking off her sunglasses. “I hear we have a common enemy.”

“Get in line, Fist’s mine.”

“You can have him. I’m more interesting in the man behind the Fist, so to speak.”

“Saren?”

“Saren.”

“What did The Spectre do to you?”

“To top it off he killed a friend of mine and framed me for his crimes, and then tried to blow me up,” Shepard said.

“So you’re the one they’re charging for the Eden Prime mess.”

“The one and only.”

“What do you want?”

“You’re taking down Fist, who is an associate of Saren’s. I’ll help you get to Fist if you help me get to Saren.”

“You know my contract isn’t just for Fist. Saren is on it too.”

“Why?”

“His Eden Prime attack pissed off some very powerful people. Shadow Broker powerful.”

“I see,” Shepard mused. “Would you care for some help?”

“What makes you think I need help?” Wrex asked.

“You are a very intimidating Krogan, with a very large shotgun that I see,” she said, “but even you couldn’t walk through Chora’s Den in one piece. There are the four floor guards, plus another four on break in the back.”

“You noticed that too?”

“Not to mention I haven’t even seen Fist, nor have I seen anyone going into or out of the back. So you have no idea what kind of security he could have back there.”

“Two T-1000 automated defense turrets.”

“Holy fuck,” Shepard breathed. After a paused, “Plus I’m sure he has a vault or encryptions to keep his business secrets safe. I don’t know about you but I’m one of the better safe-crackers on this continent. I could help you get to Saren and Fist.”

Wrex was silent, he seemed to consider it. “Who’s on your team?”

“Right now? Me, for infiltration, safecracking, and lockpicking; Kaidan covers a bunch of bases, muscle, hacking, lookout, emergency medical; Joker is our getaway driver; and Captain Anderson is our mastermind, logistics guy.”

“Hmmm…” Wrex said with a humm that Shepard was sure she felt resonate in her bones.

“Look, you can keep your bounty fees if you want. But if you join my squad we split everything evenly.”

“I’m in,” Wrex said.

A few seconds later, as if on cue, Joker arrived with a rolled down window, “Hey, any body need a ride?”

Anderson, being his usual resourceful self, had obtained building designs. It would help the team plot their heist. After brief introductions, and Wrex’s bone crushing grin on everyone’s hands (except Joker who politely declines), they went to planning.

Shepard and Kaidan had spotted most of the guards and cameras, Wrex filled in the gaps in their knowledge.

“I heard that Fist had information on Saren that he was planning on turning over to the man himself soon,” Wrex said. “We need to go sooner rather than later.”

Shepard nodded, “I agree.”

“Does this have anything to do with the Quarian I saw go into his office?” Kaidan asked.

“What?” Shepard and Wrex said at the same time.

“Yeah, I saw a her go into his office about an hour before you relieved me.”

“She has to be what he’s turning over,” Shepard breathed.

“And knowing Fist, it isn’t going to be pleasant,” Wrex said. “They’ll probably get her information from her and then kill her.”

“We’re not going sooner, we are going now,” Shepard said.

“How do you want to play this?” Anderson asked.

“The only way we can, at seven am,” she said. “Smash and grab.”

“Its actually kind of perfect,” Wrex said. “The club will be at its emptiest, the guards will have just changed over and still in that sleepy-not-quite-awake-yet mode and too tired to stand.”

“Still, 8 guards is a lot,” Kaidan said.

“Exactly,” Shepard said. “You’ll go in first, in the back, take out the guards in the back, and we'll join you when we've finished with the club."

"4 guards is too many for the muscle bound Krogan, but totally cool for the guy like a foot and a half shorter than him?" Kaidan complained.

"Just use some magic on them," Shepard said.

"Biotics aren't magic."

"To you it's not."

"You know, I've got biotics too," Wrex said.

"I just figured you really wanted to storm the front door and headbutt some people," Shepard said.

"You've got me there."

"Ok, I'm going to shower and get suited up. Would someone be so kind as to set Wrex up with some proper thieving gear?"

Anderson waved Wrex over. The two vets walked through the kitchen and into the laundry room which had been turned into a pseudo-armory.

"You got your own body armor and everything?" Anderson asked.

Wrex nodded.

"Want a silencer or anything?"

"Nope, I like it loud."

"Well, when we are on the inevitable stealth missions you can get silencers and other things back here. Plus extra ammo and some grenades. The only thing you're really missing is a mask."

"I want Fist to know I'm coming for him."

"When you get to him, feel free to lose the mask, but before that, masks on. This is all illegal and we'll try to kill the cameras, but let's not give the people who are actively searching for Shepard any more reason to put her in prison for life. This could also be used against you, you’re an accessory, there will be armed robbery, assault."

"Ok, ok, I get you."

"Take your pick."

"Got any ones with Thresher Maws on them?"

"No," Anderson said flatly.

"I guess I'll go as Tevos then," Wrex said as he took the mask from the wall of thief masks, chuckling lightly to himself.

"Ok, if you want a room, we can give your pick of them to get ready in," Anderson informed the Krogan as they returned to the front. Wrex nodded and Anderson gave him a key to one of the larger rooms at the top of the hotel, but below Shepard’s penthouse.

Almost an hour later, the group assembled in the dusty lobby. Shepard was dressed in her black cargo pants, pockets full of all sorts of goodies. Two lock picking sets, a couple of remote listening devices, two flashbang grenades, a pair of specialty made headphones for safe cracking, a couple of shape charges for blowing open doors, and enough spare universal ammo clips to last her a while. She also sported a long sleeve black shirt with bulletproof vest, and her special grip black gloves. To top it all off she had her head covering, face concealing black mask with the red 7 across it.

Wrex, who was similarly decked out chuckled, "I knew it! You were that N7 from so long ago!"

Shepard only grunted a confirmation.

After a quick weapons check, the trio moved to the garage. Originally meant to store cars for everyone staying at the hotel, plus employees and delivery personnel, the Normandy's garage was now home to Joker's fleet of getaway cars, vans, trucks, a couple of motorcycles. There was even a Citadel City Public Works garbage truck.

For specialty jobs, Shepard usually had to steal a car for Joker, who could drive anything with wheels better than anyone else Shepard had come across. And for when he was especially helpful or did something outstandingly difficult, Shepard would steal him something special.

The wheel man was found putting a new set of plates on a long town car with dark windows. The car was fast and more importantly bulletproof. Both were incredibly necessary for a job in broad daylight. Not to mention it wasn't exactly a standout car, especially in a crowd.

"All right, let's go punch a Fist in the face," Joker declared.

 


	8. The Heist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard's small crew assaults Chora's Den

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm late. It's been a rough week.

The car ride to Chora's Den was tense and quiet the only thing making any noise was the muffled chatter from Joker's police scanner.

Joker dropped off Kaidan in his maple leaf mask around the back so he could lockpick his way inside of to take out the guards on break with a quick application of biotics and flashbangs. Shepard and Wrex waited for Kaidan's whispered, "I'm in."

At that cue, the pair got out of the car. Wrex with his Tevos mask, headbutt the guard outside the club, and dragged him inside the doors. While Shepard used her wrist board computer to use a quick and dirty hack to interrupt the camera feeds. They didn't need anyone calling the cops too early.

With that accomplished Wrex and Shepard walked into the club. Wrex fired a single gunshot in the air.

"This is an old fashioned stick up," Shepard shouted as she stood atop the bar, casually pointing her gun at the bartender before he could reach the shotgun sitting under the bar-top. "Anyone who doesn't want to get robbed or attacked by my burly friend over there, I suggest you leave now."

Staff and the few patrons left so early in the morning ran for the doors.

"Can I go?" Asked the bartender. He had his hands up.

Shepard stared at him with masked eyes for a long second before nodding.

Wrex had already punched out the guards, biotically threw one against the wall.

"Kaidan where are you?" Shepard whispered into the radio.

"Ran into some problems," he said, sounding forced.

"Hurry up! My hack won't last much longer."

"Done!" He said with the sound of something heavy hitting a wall.

The locked door at the far end of the club opened as Wrex and Shepard ran into the back part of the club, the part none of them had seen before. He had moved to the security system and cut the wires from the cameras.

Shepard motioned to Kaidan without using his name, "Go check the bar for valuables, cash, small safes. Keep your eyes peeled."

The maple leaf mask nodded and went out with the duffle bag, as the N7 worked on lockpicking the last door before Fist.

She was just about done when a shotgun blast ripped through the door mere inches from her head.

She said nothing but have Wrex the "ok" hand signal. She unlocked the door and pulled it open enough for Wrex to empty a couple of shotgun shells into the room.

With that done, both the thief and the bounty hunter rushed into the back office.

Two massive, and deadly, looking turrets started warming up at the detection of danger. Saren's ally, Fist had taken cover behind his desk.

"I've come for you Fist!" Wrex yelled.

Shepard threw one of her flashbangs and instructed Wrex to duck. The explosion of light and sound stunned Fist, but in the short amount of time Shepard was out of cover to throw the grenade, the two turrets started firing at her.

"We need to take out those turrets!" Wrex yelled.

"I know!" Shepard yelled back.

"Guys, bad news, cops in bound," Joker interrupted.

"We're gonna be blacked out for a second," Shepard said as she queued up an emp pulse from her omni-tool. The second she let it go, her radio shorted out. They had maybe 30 seconds before the turrets turned back on.

"Shoot them!" Shepard yelled to Wrex.

Together they were able to crack the cameras on both turrets enough for them to be unable to target anyone.

"Do what you need to," Shepard said as she moved of the surrendering club owner.

There was a large safe in the back of the room. It was built into the wall, and no doubt that's where all the valuable stuff was kept.

"Sentinel," Shepard called Kaidan by his code name, "back here if you please."

“Here,” he said putting down the duffle bag full of a couple grand in cash looted from the club floor.

“Computer,” Shepard pointed without taking her eyes off the safe. “See if you can hack any useful or valuable information.”

Wrex, meanwhile had put his foot on Fist’s throat.

“Wait! Wait!” Fist choked out. “I can tell you whatever you want to know!”

“Where’s the Quarian?” Shepard asked calmly.

“I sent her to meet Shadow Broker agents! In the slums to the east of here!” Fist said nervously.

“Bullshit,” Wrex said, as he pushed his foot harder into Fist’s throat. “You used to work for the Broker, till you sold him out for Saren.”

Fist coughed.

“Fine,” he coughed. “I’m selling her to some of Saren’s men! He wanted to know of any evidence the Council might have against him, offered to buy it off me.”

A few seconds later Kaidan chimed in with, “I’m in! I’ve got the location of the meeting. It’s going down now! We need to move if we are going to get the Quarian.”

“Pull the car around,” Shepard turned around to face the safe again. “Take whatever you can off Fist’s computer, grab the loot, and get to the car. Cop ETA?”

“Two minutes,” came Joker’s voice.

Kaidan was almost done when Fist choked out, “I did what you asked. You don’t have anything to fear from me. You can let me go.”

“I don’t think so Fist,” Wrex said. “Unlike you I keep my promises.”

A single shotgun shell removed most of the brain from Fist’s skull.

“What the-” Kaidan started.

“Go,” Shepard ordered as she slipped off her glove in an attempt to crack the safe. “You stand guard.”

Kaidan frowned beneath his mask, but did what he was told.

“If you want to save the Quarian, we’d need to leave now,” Wrex said.

“But if we also want to clean out Fist, and get something slightly more valuable than some glitter infested singles I need some fucking silence,” Shepard said, pulling out the radio in her ear.

Wrex just nodded.

The safe was high-end, a couple of years out of date for safes that are commercially available. But that just meant that Shepard was going to have to try only a little.

Merely by touch she was able to suss out all three tumblers in just under two minutes. She swore at her slow time. The safe was full of stuff, a couple of jewels and stacks of cash, as well as several hard disks, and a whole stack of black books which looked like blackmail.

Shepard bagged it all and then sprinted out to the car.

“Cutting it close,” Joker said as he hit the gas before the door could close all the way.

She said nothing, and let Kaidan do the directing.

The sounds of sirens were lost almost immediately as Joker deftly maneuvered the car out of the area and towards the area where Fist’s people were selling a person to Saren.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the weird updating schedule I'll post and extra special bonus chapter later.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this fic/au for a while. I've got most of it planned out, but not quite all of it. I decided to tone down the tech to slightly better than now... ish. That meant no space travel, which means everyone is on a single planet, which kind of pushed me towards: everyone is human now! So that's coming.  
> And I hope you like slow burns, because this is going to be a while. Liara doesn't even show up till like chapter 12.  
> Anywho, I'll update this on Wednesday, if I remember.


End file.
